Where to go, and what to wear when you're there.

Angel’s wings

Searching for solace in the concrete sails of Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church in Rome – a Modernist moment for the Vatican, completed in 2003, a beautiful statement for a parish church in an outer borough (that I tried to hoof it too in June). Commissioned to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity, the church stands as a powerful symbol of renewal, transcending its setting to offer much needed comfort amid the grief felt in my small community.

At 2003 news conference before the consecration ceremony, Meier described the concept behind the church, his first: “When I think of a place of worship, I think of a place where one can sit and be reminded of all the things that are important outside our individual lives.”

He continued: “The central ideas for creating a sacred space have to do with truth and authenticity, a search for clarity, peace, transparency, a yearning for tranquility, a place to evoke otherworldliness in a way that is uplifting.”